Peters



(No Model...)

W. P JENNINGS.

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N. PETERS, FHOT0LITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON. D C4 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICEg WARREN P. JENNINGS, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO ABRAHAM G. JENNINGS, OF SAME PLACE.

MITT-SHAPING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,286, dated November9, 1880.

(No model.)

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WARREN P. JENNINGs, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedMitt-Shaping Machine and Process, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an improvement in process of and in apparatusfor so forming or shaping knitted or woven mitts as to contract themitts at the wrist portion and give them a better lit on the hand andwrist. The mitts to be subjected to this treatment are mostly made onbobbinet or warp lace machines.

By the improved machine the mitts are stretched over formers, so thatthey will be contracted at the desired part, and are then subjected tothe action of steam, and then of dry heat for the purpose of permanentlysetting them to the shape or form they are made to assume.

The invention consists of the mechanism hereinafter described forstretching and contracting the mitts and confining them while undergoingtreatment; also, of the means of applying steam and heat to the mittswhen used in connection with the other parts of the machine.

The invention also consists of the new lace mitt having the sides andmiddle meshes coutracted between the ends.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a plan view of amachine for applyin g myimprovementin forming mitts. Fig. 2 is avertical longitudinal section of the same, taken on line c c of Fig. l.Fig. 3 represents a sectional detail of the formers. Fig. 4. representsa mitt before forming; and Fig. 5 represents a mitt formed according tomy invention.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a table having an opening, B,about midway in the top. At or near one end a clamp, G, is suspendedabove or placed on said table. At the opposite end of the table is asliding plate, D, held between suitable guides b b, so that the saidplate D will move freely in the direction of the 'length of the table.The sliding plate D is provided with another suspended or other clamp,E. The clamp O is preferably 5o applied to a stationary plate, e,attached to ,the table-top, so that the stationary plate e and slidingplate D are at about the same level, and to said plates are attachedcloth covers F, which can be folded over the mitts when being formed toprotect them from abrasion by the ends ofthe clamps O E.

G H are the two parts of the former, each being of tapering shape. Thepart H of the former carries a smooth rod or shank,f, which enters asocket in the part G, as clearly shown 6o in Fig. 3, so that on saidshank the parts can slide farther apart or together and yet remainsufficiently united in the machine. The parts GH can also, when oli' themachine, be entirely disconnected to pernlt the application and removalofthe mitt. One ofthe parts H, it will be observed, is broader than theother, the one being adapted for the hand of the mitt and the other forthe arm portion. Under the open space B in the table A is a coil of 7osteam-pipes, I, or other heating apparatus, and a branch of the coilextends to the end of the table, and is provided with a valve and aflexible tube, J, which carries at its free end a hand-pipe, K, having anozzle. The sliding plate D is connected with a weight, g, at one endand a treadle, h, or equivalent moving mechanism at the opposite end ofthe table. By means ofthe treadle it is drawn toward the stationaryclamp C, while the weight draws it 8o in the opposite direction.

Any number of stationary and sliding clamps may be placed side by sideon a table sufficiently large to receive them, and the coil I may bearranged to extend the full length of the opening between the clamps,while the iieXible tube J and hand-pipe K may be arranged so that thesteam can be directed on all the mitts in the machine by the sameworkman, or several lieXible tubes and hand-pipes 9o may be employed, asmay be preferred, and the iiexible tube maybe connected with a separatesteam-supply pipe instead of the coil.

The mitt is iirst drawn over the formers G H, the narrower one beingentered from the hand end and the broader one from the arm end, and theyare pressed in until the shank f enters the cavity in the part G, carebeing taken that the space between the two adjacent ends of the formerswill fall at about the wrist Ioo portion of the mitt. Thus arranged themitt, with the formers, is laid on the plates I) e, the sliding plate Dhaving been tirst drawn toward the stationary one. The cloths F are thenlaid over the mitt and the clamps applied, so as to bear on the clothand clamp the formers and mitts against the plates e and D. The weight gis now allowed to draw on the sliding plate and clamp, and thereby todistend the former G ll and stretch the mitt so that the strain is borneby the mitt, the tension to which it is subjected serving to coiltractit between the two parts ot' the former. By means ofthe hand-pipe K ajetof steam is now projected on the contracted portion ot' the mitt fromunderneath, whereby the iibers are softened, and the mitt at this partassumes more readily a contracted t'orm. The fibers of the mitt are thendried of the moisture deposited on them, and the contraction tixed bythe heat from the steam-coil l.

In Fig. 4 is represented a lace mitt before undergoing the formingprocess. lt will be observed that the sides are nearly straight lines,having none of the curves characteristic of the corresponding parts ofthe hand and wrist. In Fig. 5 is represented the same lnitt afterundergoing the abovedescribed treat- 1nent,sbowing acontractcd portioncorresponding to the wrist and the part of the hand next the wrist.

The mitt thus produced, it will be seen, has its sides bent inward andthe meshes laterally contracted, thereby obtaining the desired tormwithout reducing the number ofthe meshes at the contracted portion.

I claim- 1. The process of shaping lace mitts, which consists in tirststretching the mitts length- Wise, and thereby contracting them at thedesired point, and in then subjecting them tirst to the direct action ofsteam, and next to Wai heat, for the purpose of setting the bers to thedesired form, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a machine for elougating and laterally contracting mitts, thecombination and arrangement of two clamps, of which one is sliding, witha sectional former adapted to be placed within the mitts, substantiallyas herein shown and described.

3. The combination of the stationary plate e, and its clamp C, with thesliding plate D, and its clamp E, and with the former G H, substantiallyas herein shown and described.

4. The table A, provided with the opening B, and the coil I, incombination with the clamps U E and former G H, for holding the mitt tobe operated upon, substantially as described.

5. In combination with the table A, clamps or holders, and the formerfor holding the mitts, the tlexiblc tube J, and hand-pipe K, connectedwith a steam-supply, substantially as described.

G. The automatic former composed of sections G H, which are connectedtogether bya smooth shank,f, loosely inserted in one of the sections, aspace being left between the sections, all arrangcd to allow thesections to be drawn apart or contracted automatically by the tension ofthe fabric that surrounds them, substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

7. As a new article of manufacture, the seamless lace mitt havingr thesides and middle meshes contracted laterally between its ends withoutreducing the number of meshes at its contracted parts, substantially asshown and described.

WARREN P. JENNINGS.

Witnesses:

WILLY G. E. SoHULTz, WIL'roN C. DoNN.

